OUR VIEW: Picking a place for Resiliency Prep

It’s just three weeks until the beginning of the school year in Fall River, but the Resiliency Preparatory School and its nearly 200 students remain “homeless.” Teachers, staff, students and parents are all still waiting to hear which vacant school building RPS will call home, be it t...

The Herald News, Fall River, MA

Writer

Posted Aug. 13, 2013 at 12:01 AM
Updated Aug 13, 2013 at 1:22 PM

Posted Aug. 13, 2013 at 12:01 AM
Updated Aug 13, 2013 at 1:22 PM

» Social News

It’s just three weeks until the beginning of the school year in Fall River, but the Resiliency Preparatory School and its nearly 200 students remain “homeless.”

Teachers, staff, students and parents are all still waiting to hear which vacant school building RPS will call home, be it temporarily or permanently. The school had been temporarily occupying the Cherry & Webb building downtown after the roof of its previous home, the Westall School, was damaged in a storm in January. While the roof has been repaired, interior work remains unfinished, preventing RPS from moving back in by the start of the school year.

There are vacant school buildings in Fall River that could house RPS rent-free, but those buildings have to be prepared for occupancy and school officials need advance notice so they can figure out how their classes and students will fit in.

Despite these needs and looming deadlines, the Fall River School Committee is still undecided about where RPS will go.

The former Morton Middle School building on Rock Street had been recommended by the administration to house RPS. But when the Fall River Innovation Academy proposal died, the school it was slated for — the former Henry Lord Middle School — presented itself as a new option to house RPS. Moments after the FRIA vote, School Committee Vice Chairman Mark Costa, one of the four members opposing FRIA, made a motion to table the RPS move to Morton.

Costa said Henry Lord could be a good permanent home for RPS, where there would be enough room to expand the RPS program to include middle school grades as well as high school. If RPS enrollment does open to middle schoolers, student populations would decrease in the rest of the city’s middle schools, where class sizes are higher than usual in the wake of the Henry Lord closure and FRIA’s defeat. While Costa may have a point, such an expansion could not launch in time to alleviate overcrowding in the upcoming school year.

Costa argues that RPS needs a permanent home so that it can have stability. “I am not in favor of having them shuffled between a run-down vacant school building to vacant school building.” But the most pressing concern right now is deciding where the RPS community will report on the first day of school, permanent location or not.

While it’s fine for the School Committee to explore future options for RPS, that is a discussion that can wait. The very nature of RPS is to support students who may have been left behind by traditional schools. RPS should not be left behind on the first day of school.

This matter could be decided at the committee’s next meeting on Aug. 21, but an agenda has not yet been posted. In order to settle the uncertainty, School Committee member Paul Hart has asked the committee to convene a special meeting to discuss the issue further prior to next Wednesday’s meeting.

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To ensure some stability for RPS administrators, teachers, students and parents, the School Committee should hold a special meeting to pick a school so the necessary logistical planning can begin and the School Committee can focus on other pressing issues facing the city’s schools at its regular meeting.